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Classified U.S. report finds backlog of hundreds of possible Israeli human rights violationsThe State Department’s watchdog says it will take years to review credible allegations against Israeli military units in Gaza, according to officials, raising doubts about future accountability.
.....That byzantine system has created predictable results, [Josh] Paul said. “To date the U.S. has not withheld any assistance to any Israeli unit despite clear evidence,” he said.
The Biden administration came under criticism for refusing to halt aid to Israeli units accused of gross violations of human rights, including one implicated in the killing of American Omar Assad, a 78-year-old former grocery store owner from Milwaukee who had been detained at a West Bank checkpoint in 2022.
Assad was reported to have suffered a stress-induced heart attack after being bound, gagged and held by Israeli forces, the IDF said in a statement at the time. The IDF added that his death was the result of “moral failure and poor decision-making” by the soldiers who had detained him.
An injured Palestinian child, Yousef Al-Bayouk, weeps over his brothers, Moath and Moataz, who were killed in Israeli strikes, at their funeral in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Though members of the Israeli unit ultimately faced no criminal penalties, the Biden administration said it was satisfied with the measures taken by the Israeli government and noted that the individuals in question no longer serve in the military.
The Trump administration has pursued a similar hands-off approach to....
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